Featured Image Credit: TikTok/lawrence.sullivan0 / YouTube/Rockstar Games
Topics: Gaming, Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: Gaming, Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games
Gaming publisher Rockstar has been hit with an ultimatum by the Florida Joker after he demands more money.
The Florida Joker, real-name Lawrence Sullivan, caused a stir last week when he demanded millions of dollars from the gaming company following the release of the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer.
During the GTA 6 trailer, there is a brief moment where a character with purple hair and face tattoos.
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Sullivan seemingly believed he was looking in the mirror and released a video demanding he and the publishers talk.
It is evident the pair share similarities due to the nature of their face tattoos, but Sullivan stunned social media when he initially demanded $2 million dollars from the company.
Since then, he has released another video where he has now dyed his hair purple, like that of the game character, and put on a jail jumpsuit to demand another million dollars for the free publicity he has given a game that has been viewed over 144 million times on the Rockstar YouTube page alone.
Yep, it’s not like GTA 6 has been anticipated for over a decade and has loads of fans across the world already, so they certainly need all the publicity they can get or risk the behemoth game going unnoticed.
“It’s your boy Joker 305, you know what is going on. Been making the worldwide news, killing the news for the last couple days,” Sullivan said on his TikTok page on Tuesday (December 12)
“GTA, I am giving you the biggest free marketing you got in the entire history of running this GTA game.
“For that, I want an extra $1 million, ya’ll taking forever to respond back to me,”
“You see that? Find another character, find the other person that they portrayed that character from. I will wait, I’ll wait.
“GTA we got to talk, you think I’m playing?
“You have got 3 days, three days before my lawyers go crazy on this case. This is not like the Lindsey Lohan case. This is not like the Lindsey Lohan case.
“I have got hard evidence, hard evidence,”
As mentioned by Sullivan, this isn’t the first time that Rockstar has faced legal action from someone believing their likeness was unfairly used.
Lindsay Lohan brought a case against Rockstar in which she claimed that the studio had used her image in one of the characters.
Judges at New York state's court of appeals ultimately dismissed the case.
They ruled that the character represented the 'style, look and persona of a modern, beach-going young woman... that is not recognizable as plaintiff'.
Only time will tell if Sullivan will be as equally unsuccessful on his quest for financial remuneration.